(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for the efficient removal of hazardous volatile organic materials (HVOM) from waste sludge and liquid waste material. HVOM, hazardous volatile organic materials, are those volatile and semi-volatile organic materials which have hazardous waste characteristics of flammability, toxicity and/or carcinogenicity. In particular, the present invention pertains to an apparatus for receiving hazardous waste sludge on a batch basis and subjecting the sludge to microwave energy and conductive heat energy in a vacuum drying process, and to the method involved in using the subject apparatus to separate HVOM from the sludge by thermal desorption.
(2) Description of the Related Art
It is a common practice in industry to use significant amounts of solvents and other volatile organic matter in a variety of manufacturing process applications that often result in generating various different types of process waste by-products in the form of sludge, both hazardous and non-hazardous. These waste sludge by-products contain HVOM in a wide variety of solvent mixtures. Examples of these mixtures are found to contain paint pigments, resins, phenolics, photoresists, silica, metallic orides and other solid particulates and liquid contaminates. Waste sludge is produced in the aerospace, automotive, appliance, electronics, paint, coatings, film, textile, manufacturing and other related industries.
Industries that generate these solvent-laden solid waste by-products are finding it increasingly difficult to dispose of the hazardous waste sludge without the outlay of considerable expense. The indiscriminate dumping of hazardous waste, the increasing number of polluted landfills, the contamination of ground water, the potential for the release of toxic fumes from waste storage sites and the resulting air pollution, and the increased occurrences of employee injury resulting from the handling of waste sludge and the liability of the sludge producer despite their precautions, all add to the growing problem of the safe disposal of waste materials.
What is needed to resolve this problem is a waste by-product recovery system that substantially eliminates the HVOM content of waste by-products and hence eliminates the hazardous characteristics of flammability, toxicity and/or carcinogenicity of the waste, making it eligible for disposal in normal land fills not specifically designated for hazardous materials.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a volatile organic material (VOM) recovery system and a method of operating the system that substantially eliminates the HVOM from waste sludge, thereby delisting the sludge for disposal in readily available solid waste land fills, and concomitantly eliminating the high cost and producer liability associated with the disposal of waste byproducts.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and a method for separating hazardous volatile organic materials from industrial waste by-products, and substantially eliminate the HVOM content of the solvent-laden waste and delist the waste for disposal in readily available solid waste land fills.